Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Weekend that Was

I was more productive this weekend than I imagined I could be. I'm actually totally unmotivated. So I don't know how I managed to alter a pair of jeans (substantively), finish and block a sweater and make 2 pairs of pants. But no, I didn't garden and the front of my house is shabby.

How did this happen?

Altering the New Jeans

Well the jeans were my priority. The weather has shifted (it'll warm up again but we're moving slowly towards an inevitable temperature and it's cold) so I need some pants that work. I'm bored of my skinnies (though they serve my wardrobe well) and most of the things in my closet either don't fit or they're just not doing it for me right now. I ended up narrowing the flare by 2 inches on each leg and the jeans are still flared, if mildly. It's a sailor-y look that works well on my figure. I also removed 5 inches of length from the hem. (Man, I could have made jeans for a baby with the volume of denim scraps.) Let me say that the pants are really well made. The inner outer leg is sewn with an inch of seam allowance - not serged shut - so that, if you want to make these wider, theoretically you can with relative ease. There was also an extra inch of fabric at the original hem to work with. It's not often I see that. Given the high waist and wide-leg, I sense these will look great with my new Jenna cardigan.

BTW, I do intend - as mentioned - to take photos of my new handmade (and purchased) garments. But factors must align (time in the morning, weather). I haven't forgotten.

Making the Hudson Pant(s)

The Hudson pants were fun to make. I had a mini-assembly line going as I made 2 pairs of these simultaneously - one ankle length and the other cropped. I used my two, rather helpful (if I do say so myself) tutorials on sewing in a flat elastic waistband. In case you're interested, here's the first tutorial. Here's the second.

I should take a photo of the finished pants, flat, just to show them off but I don't know if they'll look any more interesting than any other photos of sweatpants I photographed unworn. Their genius is in the INSANELY comfortable French terry of which they are constructed..

I'm really happy with the cropped version because it will replace a RTW version that I've worn into the ground over the last 5 summers. I'm pleased to know (understatement) that I can recreate these again and again because the cropped sweatpant is a surprisingly attractive look on me.

Finishing Kristin's Cowl Pullover

It appears that the easiest way to finish a cowl-neck sweater quickly is to decide, after an inch of edging, that you'd prefer to wear a crew neck! That's what happened to me and - I swear - it wasn't just a decision based on my urge to be done with this project. The pullover is blocking now and I do hope that it springs back, to its former dimensions and shape, when dry. (Of course, I didn't measure before blocking - like an idiot.) I know it's not going to align entirely with the measurements provided to me in the Custom Fit pattern. (I measured it a number of times while knitting.)
What I can say is that all of the pre-block vertical measurements were spot on. The horizontal ones I can't really comment on because I had that rip-back (requiring me to ease in a lot of extra yarn). As such, my gauge in the waist is totally messed with; it's beyond my ability to assess the pattern's accuracy there. I will say that the hip circumference was larger than it should have been (pre-blocking) and the shoulder width was spot on. I can't quibble much with the validity of one's ability to achieve Custom Fit measurements - though I'm not sure those are entirely accurate unless you use a really large swatch and you know exactly what finished dimensions you want (not necessarily what you'll get automatically). I have lots of other things to say about the system, which I'll get into when I post on this again, following blocking.

TL/DR: If you don't know how to fit I don't know whether Custom Fit is actually going to fix the problem for you.

So that's my weekend. Now I'm eating cheezies for dinner because I feel like it.

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